The design is based on Spanish pueblos blancos architecture, said Chad Muir, a principal with Röhe & Wright Builders, whose partners on the project include Houston-based Black Diamond and Yancey Hausman.

Pueblos blancos are fortified towns situated on hilltops with large public plazas and often cathedrals. The homes are whitewashed and topped with Spanish tile.

Muir describes the project as modern and urban with sky terraces and balconies. The location is on Reinerman, about three blocks west of Shepherd and two blocks north of Memorial.

The units will be dense, as almost half of the space will be dedicated to common space.

The custom lots will range from 2,500 to 3,700 square feet. The villas will average more than 2,200 square feet in size. And multi-level townhomes will be clustered in buildings of between two and five units. Sizes will range from 2,300 to 4,000 square feet.

The homes will have some "green" features, including environmentally friendly insulation to help reduce utility bills, Muir said.

Preston Wood & Associates is the architect on Cáceres, which the developers say will be finished in three years.

The home sites will start in the high $200,000s, the villas in the $650,000s and townhomes in the $550,000s.

Offices may be available

Houston's office market is the strongest it's been in years, but it could get a slight knock from the subprime
mortgage
mess.

Aegis Mortgage Corp. laid off most of its employees last week, so it doesn't seem likely the locally based firm will keep all of the 160,000 square feet it leases in west Houston.

The company has offices at 9990 Richmond and 3250 and 3010 Briarpark, some of which it already subleases, according to research data.

A spokeswoman said she was unable to comment.

Houston's overall office vacancy rate is just over 11 percent, according to second-quarter statistics from CB Richard Ellis.

1970s 'party central' sold

Verde Corporate Realty Services paid more than $20 million for the 8.5-acre parcel near Richmond and Fountain View, according to a source familiar with the deal who didn't want to be quoted disclosing the sales price.

The group bought it from the Rogers family of Beaumont, who created the Texas State Optical chain.

The family had owned the more-than 300-unit property since the early 1970s, when it was a very popular place, said Blake Tartt III of New Regional Planning, who was involved in brokering the deal along with Bill Wheless.

"If you were cool, you lived there. It was party central," Tartt said.